Job Will Be Worth $8 Million

Helps Build F-22 Fighter Jets

The company, Howmet Castings, has been awarded $8 million in contracts for large titanium castings for the F-22 Raptor, which will replace the Air Force's F-15.

Howmet is manufacturing the pieces for Boeing Co.

Boeing is the main subcontractor for F-22 builder Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co.

The contracts cover parts for the F-22's wings, side of body and landing gear.

The delivery of the first part is scheduled for October, according to officials, and production will run through the middle of next year.

Officials said the contract will be handled with the plant's existing staff, which has recently been cut as orders have declined.

Howmet, a unit of metals giant Alcoa Inc., makes castings for jet aircraft and industrial gas-turbine engines. But the company has seen both markets weaken in the sagging economy.

The Hampton plant laid off 90 temporary workers and 30 permanent workers in the past month. And between attrition and job cuts, the facility has slashed total temporary and permanent employment by more than 300 in the past year, to about 1,550.

At a cost of about $200 million apiece, the stealthy F-22s will be the most advanced and expensive fighters ever built.

The Air Force plans to buy 295 of the aircraft, with production scheduled through 2013 in the $60 billion program.

Coincidentally, the first F-22s completed will be based at nearby Langley Air Force Base starting in 2004.

The base will get three squadrons, or 72 of the jets, ultimately replacing 66 existing F-15s.